Why do I want an iPhone rather than one of those other models?

[Karenn]

That's what it seems like anyway. Is the iPhone really better than like, the Google phone or some of its other competitors? What makes it better? There must be something because I even know a few Microsoft employees with iPhones.

[BillK]

It depends on what you need.

The app store is hands down the best of the crop. The bb app store sucks compared to the apple app store.

The browser on the iphone is fantastic. Websites look like websites on it - and it's simple to use and navigate around with it. The bb browser on my curve sucks - period - it's a miserable frustrating experience to browse the web on my bb curve.

I miss getting my emails immediately on my iphone vs. the bb. You can set up the iphone to check mail every 15/30/hour - which is ok - but if you are someone who needs email to come through immediately - it can be frustrating - thankfully I'm not - I do miss it - but I can live with not having it like my bb due to all the extra things I love about my iphone.

I miss having the various sound profiles of a bb on my iphone - i like being able to set up different sounds for different email account so I can tell who an incoming email is from. I also like being able to switch between sound profiles like quiet/vibrate/Bill's etc. There's not nearly that amount of customization available on the iphone. The choice of ringtones for various events on the iphone sucks compared to a bb.

I really miss the in/out of holster settings a bb has - I loved that as soon as I put my bb in the holster it went to vibrate mode - and the vibrate mode on the bb is MUCH better than the iphone - which is pretty anemic really.

Multimedia'wise - there's nothing that compares to an iphone - if you're into pics/videos - it's amazing.

I LOVE having wifi on a phone with the iphone - VZW disables the wifi capabilities on all of their BB's and it really is annoying.

Overall - I like my iphone much better than my bb curve. I only wish VZW had it right now - as I hate the idea of switching from them to ATT - but I do think I'm going to port my VZW number over to the iphone as soon as my 30 day trial with ATT is up. So far my ATT coverage in the areas I need it is equivalent to VZW's.

[LBW]

I agree with everything Bill said.

I'll add:
-If you have a Mac, using the iPhone is seamless.
-Tons of free Apps for the iPhone (don't know if this is the case for BB).

[BillK]

there are free apps for the BB - but they're no where as nice as the iphone apps.

I will say this - creating your own ringtones for bb's is much simpler than for the iphone.

I REFUSE to pay to make a ringtone of a song I already own - and it does annoy me that I have to circumnavigate itunes to do so with my iphone but I can - so I suppose I can live with it.

[egoldber]

I love my iPhone. I had a BB before and it is just simply so much better IMO. The interface is just 1000 times better.

It did take me about 3-4 weeks to get used to it vs a more traditional phone/BB, but after that I was fine.

I don't care about ringtones so I never knew that was an issue for people.

[TwinFoxes]

I've sung iPhone's praises so much on this board they should seriously pay me. It's just better. My DH has a blackberry for work, but I gave him my old (as in first generation) iPhone when I upgraded to the 3GS. He uses my grungy old iPhone whenever it's not work related. The apps are great, I like the video camera, it's super easy to use, the touch screen is much better than that weird little rollerball that's on the BB.



I REFUSE to pay to make a ringtone of a song I already own - and it does annoy me that I have to circumnavigate itunes to do so with my iphone but I can - so I suppose I can live with it.

Bill, would you mind sharing how you circumnavigate iTunes to make ring tones?

[MartiesMom2B]

I like that I can have one device that I need while I take walks. It has a phone for emergencies, my mp3 player and a gps. To me that's convenience.

I agree with what was said earlier.

If anyone has seen a good arm band for the 3G iphone, please feel free to recommend it to me.

[stella]

because it is just.so. COOL. My dh got one about a month ago and he is smitten. I would be too if he would ever let me use it.

[BillK]

I've sung iPhone's praises so much on this board they should seriously pay me. It's just better. My DH has a blackberry for work, but I gave him my old (as in first generation) iPhone when I upgraded to the 3GS. He uses my grungy old iPhone whenever it's not work related. The apps are great, I like the video camera, it's super easy to use, the touch screen is much better than that weird little rollerball that's on the BB.



Bill, would you mind sharing how you circumnavigate iTunes to make ring tones?
Here's the direct link to the post on Crackberry about how to do it:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f99/want-custom-ringtones-your-iphone-3g-51632/

Here it is copy/pasted for those at work that can't click links:


Ok, the iPhone 3G is a pretty damned nice phone when you buy it, but let's face it, the ringtone selection SUCKS. You can always buy ringtone capable songs from iTunes and pay an extra $.99 to snip a 30 second ringtone out of it, but what if you want a movie theme song, a cartoon show theme song from your years as a kid, or some funky sound effects you found on the web?

Here's what you do if you have a Windows machine, or have a 10.4.11 (Tiger) Mac. (If you want to use a full song that isn't 40 seconds or less, you need to find software to crop the section you want. Any Mac can use GarageBand for this, and I am sure there are free Windows solutions as well. To ease the pain of this step, I just download pre-made ringtones in MP3 format and go from there.)

1. Find a ringtone. I personally get all mine from here at CrackBerry.com (it has to be 45 seconds or less)

2. Download the ringtone to your desktop

3. Open iTunes and go to your Preferences (might be called Settings on Windows) > Advanced Tab > Importing sub-tab > Find where it says "Import Using" and set it to AAC encoder.

4. On a Mac, double click it and it will automatically add to your iTunes library and start playing. On a PC, it will most likely open WMP automatically, so just drag it to your iTunes library.

5. Find the rintone you just dragged to your iTunes library and right click it, then select "Convert to AAC."

6. It will create a duplicate of the ringtone in AAC format and should start playing it automatically.

7. Drag the file to your desktop. (Since the new AAC format ringtone starts playing automatically, it will have a speaker next to it, which makes it easy to determine which file you need to drag)

8. Delete the two copies of the ringtone from your general Music list (you don't have to, but I don't think you want ringtones randomly playing next time you do a song shuffle...)

9. See that ringtone you just dragged to your desktop? It should be "songname.m4a." Now, simply change the file extension to .m4r. You can leave the file name alone, or you can make it whatever you want, the important thing is that you change the extension to .m4r.

10. On a Mac, double click it and it will auto add to your Ringtones list in iTunes. On a PC, you may have to manually drag it to the list.

You're done. You now have custom ringtones on your iPhone for free, and they can be whatever sounds you can find... as long as they are shorter than 40 seconds.

I know it looks like a bunch of steps, but it isn't. The whole process takes maybe 30 seconds after you do it once or twice.He is right - it really is a super quick process once you do it a couple of times and super simple.

[motherofone]

A day like today is why I adore my iphone:
The phone's alarm woke me up. I quickly checked my email and facebook. After dropping my daughter at camp, I went for a run (even though I was waiting for a call back from my doctor.) While running, I used an app that tracked my run. I was listening my favorite playlist when the doctor called back. The music stopped when the phone rang. I stopped running-paused my tracker and took the call. After the call, I restarted the tracker and continued on my happy way. Later, when a friend was late for meeting for coffee, I sat in sbux reading a book using the kindle app. I feel like an advertisement but the iphone is my very favorite gadget ever.
There are some drawbacks:
It is bigger and heavier than my bb.
I expect everything with a screen to be a touchscreen and it isn't.
My dd plays with the phone a lot (camera, fluid, bugsquash.)
My dh plays with my phone a lot.
Phone sound quality doesn't seem as good as the bb.

[vludmilla]

I won't add anything substantive like the OP's, I'll just say that I LOVE my new iphone. I am a person who never buys fancy phones or tech-gadget things but I totally fell for the iphone. I bought the $99 version and I don't regret it. I hope I will learn to use it as much as some of the OP's do.

[kransden]

The new Google phone is coming out I think Aug 5th. It may or may not be a better choice. There aren't any real comparisons between the 2 yet. I expect so see some answers a week later. BTW, I do love dh's iphone.

[Karenn]

So did I get this right, there is a Kindle app that will let me read books on an iphone? If I wasn't sold before, I am now!

[K-Bear]

Yep - there is a Kindle App for the iphone.

I bought an iphone a couple weeks ago and it really is a great phone. Love having the email, web browser, great apps. with me all the time.

When I was looking at different phones, it wasn't like there was any comparable phone that was cheaper so why not just get the iphone?

[TwinFoxes]

I expect everything with a screen to be a touchscreen and it isn't.


Haha! That is so true! Whenever I have to use my DH's bb for something (like he wants me to read a message to him while he's driving) I keep hitting the screen! :tongue5:

[tylersmama]

I have a Samsung Blackjack and have been pondering getting an iPhone since I found out that splitting my account off from XH's voided my contract and made me eligible for an upgrade.

Does the iPhone sync with Outlook? That's my biggest concern since that's what I use for my calendar, and one of the main reasons that I love my Blackjack.

Is it really worth it to get the new 3G version over the older (aka cheaper) version?

[BillK]

Is it really worth it to get the new 3G version over the older (aka cheaper) version?

Yes - the 3GS is so much faster than the 3G.

Unless you don't plan on doing any multimedia/web browsing and only use the phone as a phone/calendar - I'd pony up for the 3GS. If all you're worried about is a phone and calendar - and don't mind the lower mp camera/no video - then the old 3G would probably be ok. The new oleophobic (oil resistant) screen on the 3GS kicks much a$$ btw.

Regarding syncing calendars: http://www.apple.com/iphone/how-to/#calendar.syncing-calendars

[egoldber]

Does the iPhone sync with Outlook? That's my biggest concern since that's what I use for my calendar, and one of the main reasons that I love my Blackjack.

Yes. The other main reason I love the iPhone is the all in oneness of it. It's my phone, calendar, contact list, notepad, games, music, travel noise machine, travel alarm clock, books on CD player, etc.

[Zoey187]

You can also try Myxer.com for ringtones. You are able to make custom ringtones from your music already and then just sync your ringtone from Itunes. Took me a little bit to figure it out, but it works.

FYI: Ringtones for the IPhone can't be longer than 39 secs. Thats what was causing me all the problems.